The present-day U.S. military qualifies by any measure as highly professional, much more so than its Cold War predecessor. Yet the purpose of today’s professionals is not to preserve peace but to fight unending wars in distant places. Intoxicated by a post-Cold War belief in its own omnipotence, the United States allowed itself to be drawn into a long series of armed conflicts, almost all of them yielding unintended consequences and imposing greater than anticipated costs. Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. forces have destroyed many targets and killed many people. Only rarely, however, have they succeeded in accomplishing their assigned political purposes. . . . [F]rom our present vantage point, it becomes apparent that the “Revolution of ‘89” did not initiate a new era of history. At most, the events of that year fostered various unhelpful illusions that impeded our capacity to recognize and respond to the forces of change that actually matter.

Andrew Bacevich


Friday, October 9, 2009

War News for Friday, October 09, 2009

The British MOD is reporting the death of a British ISAF soldier from an IED attack near Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Afghanistan on Thursday, October 8th.

The Gazette is reporting the death of Sgt. Kenneth W. Westbrook who died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C., Wednesday, October 7th. He was wounded from small arms fire/gunshot wounds in Kunar Province, Afghanistan on Tuesday, September 8th.


Oct. 5 airpower summary:

Oct. 6 airpower summary:

IEA raises 2010 oil demand forecast for a third month:

US forces leave east Afghanistan area after attack:

Pullout From Iraq Poses Daunting Challenges: (Here's a very worthy article worth the time invested to read it from the N.Y. Times.)


Reported Security incidents:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb that was planted outside a beauty salon in al Shuhadaa neighbourhood in the city of Yousifiyah, around 17 km to the south of Baghdad, targeted a wedding gathering, Thursday evening, killing at least three and injuring another 10.

#2: Insurgents threw two hand grenades at a police patrol in the Doura intersection, southern Baghdad, injuring three policemen.


Diyala Prv:
#1: Two civilians were wounded in an armed attack that was carried out by unknown gunmen west of Baaquba city, a security source from Diala province said on Thursday. “Unidentified armed men opened fire today targeting two persons driving a civilian car in Jideedat al-Shatt area, 10 km west of Baaquba,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He said that the two victims were severely wounded, but he did not mention further details.


Tikrit:
#1: A bomb placed under a car wounded the vehicle's owner, his son and four others late on Thursday in central Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, police said


Kirkuk:
#1: Police forces defused an unknown missile in a region in southwestern Kirkuk, a source from the joint coordination center in Kirkuk said Friday. “A police patrol found late Thursday (Oct. 8) an unknown missile, ready to be launched, near al-Saray region in central al-Shaab district, southwestern Kirkuk,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#2: Iraqi police found the body of a policeman riddled with bullets in southern Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.


Mosul:
#1: A roadside bomb wounded three Iraqi soldiers when it struck their patrol on Thursday in western Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

#2: A roadside bomb detonated in Dargazliyah neighbourhood, central Mosul, Friday morning, injuring three street sweepers.

#3: A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol in Tanak neighbourhood, downtown Mosul, injuring three civilians.


Al Anbar Prv:
#1: A bomb attached to a car killed a Sunni imam and two other people in a village outside of Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, police said.

A magnetic bomb was stuck to the car of the imam of Abdulqadir Mosque in the town of Saqlawiyah, to the north of Fallujah, Friday. The imam and two of his security personnel got into the car after Friday prayers and the bomb exploded, killing all three.



Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: A suicide car bomb in a bustling market in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed at least 49 people Friday, a government official said. The explosion injured 107 people, said Syed Zahir Shah, health minister for Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province. A moving car carrying 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of explosives detonated about noon, according to a bomb disposal squad.

#2: Earlier Friday near Peshawar, at least 15 militants attacked and torched seven vehicles, four belonging to NATO, on their way to Afghanistan, police Inspector Atiq Shah said.

Suspected Islamist militants torched an oil tanker and six lorries carrying US and NATO supplies in Pakistan's restive north-west early Friday, police said.The pre-dawn assault took place at a petrol station and a truckers' inn on the outskirts of Peshawar city, a key transit point for supplies meant for the Western forces battling the Taliban insurgency in neighbouring Afghanistan.'Around a dozen men armed with Kalashnikov rifles came to the fuel pump and burned down an oil tanker,' police officer Kifayat Khan said. 'Afterwards, they approached the adjacent parking area and set fire to six trucks using petrol bombs,' the officer added.

#3: A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at the Sky construction company in the Jadran district of Paktia province, said local governor Abdul Wali Jadran. "Six security guards of the company were killed and another three were wounded in the blast," he told AFP.

#4: Separately, NATO and Afghan soldiers killed a Taliban commander and 19 of his men in an overnight operation in western Herat province, said Jalandar Shah Behnam, the Afghan army corp commander for western Afghanistan. The operation was launched after a tip-off about the whereabouts of the hideout of Ghulam Yahya Akbari, who he described as a local Taliban commander. "The joint forces killed Akbari and his men in a firefight. We were supported by NATO helicopters but no air strike was needed," he said.

#5: An Afghan army commander told AFP that seven militants were killed in Wardak, including their leader Mullah Yasin.

#6: Elsewhere, three militants were killed after insurgents attacked a joint Afghan police and Swedish NATO forces patrol in Chahar Bolak district of northern Balkh province, the deputy provincial police chief said.

#7: A roadside bomb struck a vehicle of a road construction company in Paktia province east of Afghanistan, killing five persons and wounding four others on Friday, a local official said. "The bloody incident occurred at 6 a.m. local time this morning in Auzi district leaving five employees of the company dead and four others injured," governor of Auzi district Abdul Wali Zadran told Xinhua. All the victims are Afghans, he added. He also added that the company is a local one and is involved in road building activities in east Afghanistan.

#8: Pakistan's security forces killed eight militants and arrested 13 others in the continued search and clearance operations in northwest Pakistan's Swat and Malak and districts during the last 24 hours, the army said Friday. The army said in a daily update that the security forces killed six militants during the operation at Banjot and Kasona near Malamjaba in Swat and another 12 voluntarily surrendered themselves in various areas of Swat. In North Waziristan tribal agency, a blast took place near a security forces check post at Mana, killing one soldier and wounding three others. In a retaliatory fire, two Uzbek militants were killed, said the statement. Militants also fired 24 rockets at Razmak and Kabutar check posts of security forces, resultantly injuring four soldiers, it said.

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